The HP Pavilion tx1000, the company's first attempt at the convertible tablet market, had a less-than-spectacular launch. One of the notable features missing from it was support for Wacom, a digitizing technology that simply, well, works with tablets. The tx1000 relied on a touch screen instead. The Pavilion tx2000z ($1,299.99 direct), the company's second attempt, tries to correct its past mistake by including both Wacom and touch-screen capabilities. Despite the improved handwriting experience, the AMD processor tends to generate a bit of heat and is still no match for its Intel counterparts.

The overall design of the tx2000z hasn't changed much from that of its predecessor. You've still got a 5.1-pound system that's heavier than most of the competition, and the heft against your forearms might be too much to put up with over an extended period of time. Granted, the system loads an optical drive and a sizable extended battery, but the 4.8-pound Fujitsu LifeBook T4210 and the 4.7-pound Toshiba Portégé M400 series are both lighter tablets that also load optical drives. If you can live without an optical drive, the 4.4-pound Lenovo ThinkPad X61 Tablet or the 3.9-pound Fujitsu LifeBook T2010 are easier to carry despite their huge batteries.

The fit and finish aren't as subtle as those of the ThinkPad X61 Tablet or the Fujitsu T2010. There's a noticeable gap between the lid and the base of the tx2000z, making the machine look thicker than it should. The tablet's glossy finish and the In-Mold Decorated (IMD) patterns are sexy and very much consistent with the rest of the Pavilion line. You can tell that HP spent a lot of time and energy on the full-size keyboard, but the mouse buttons are tough to press. The surface of the touchpad is covered with a grid of small indentations, so you can feel where it begins and endsa nice touch. There's even a dedicated button right under the keyboard that lets you disable the touchpad.

The writing experience has improved dramatically, thanks to the addition of Wacom's digitizer technology. The tx1000 relied solely on touch sensitivity, which proved to be a distraction when the palm of your hand made contact with the screen. This time around, HP included both digitizing technology and touch sensitivity. When the digitizer pen (which ejects from the right corner of the unit) makes contact with the screen, the touch-screen functions step aside and don't interfere. If you put your finger against it, the touch screen kicks in. Coupled with Microsoft Vista's improved handwriting recognition software, the overall writing experience is much smoother and more enjoyable.

Though (unlike other tablets) the tx2000z lacks a FireWire port, its feature set is impressive. Its three USB ports match those on the Fujitsu and Lenovo tablets. The built-in dual-layer DVD burner is one of the biggest draws, allowing you to burn DVDs and CDs and watch DVDs, as well as install software from a disc. You'll find a webcamconvenient for taking video notes during classroom lecturesabove the screen, as well as dual microphones. However, I'd have liked an option for mobile cellular broadband, either from Verizon's or Sprint's EV-DO Rev A services. The Lenovo ThinkPad X61 Tablet offers these services for frequent travelers. In the meantime, the tx2000z does have built-in 802.11n wireless from Broadcom.

I'm baffled that HP is still reluctant to offer both AMD and Intel processors in configuring its tablets. Like the tx1000, the tx2000z loads only AMD components. My configuration came with a standard-voltage Turion 64 X2 TL-66 CPU with the seemingly attractive gigahertz rating of 2.4 GHz. It's fast enough (especially when coupled with the 2GB of memory my system came with) to handle Windows Vista and all the "bloatware" that HP piles on. It also performed well on Cinebench 9.5, surpassing the ThinkPad Tablet by 26 percent. The tx2000z's SYSMark 2007 Preview Overall score, however, was identical to that achieved by the ThinkPad X61 Tablet, which uses a low-voltage (LV) Intel processor, despite the fact that the tx2000z's AMD processor is standard voltage. The standard-voltage AMD processor also needs more juice. As a result, the tx2000z generated a considerable amount of heat after about 10 minutes of use. That's why an extended battery is necessary; else you would get only around 2 hours of battery life. The 56-Wh battery achieved 3 hours 48 minutes on the MobileMark 2007 test, which isn't bad. By comparison, though, the big battery and LV processor combo in the Fujitsu and Lenovo units produced almost 5 hours of battery life.

The HP Pavilion tx2000z's Wacom capabilities make for a much-improved handwriting experience. For the time being, AMD processors are your only option, which is fine for running basic office applications and tablet software, but they tend to produce more heat than their low-voltage Intel competitors. If an optical drive is not a must, the Fujitsu LifeBook T2010 and the Lenovo ThinkPad 61 Tablet are better choices.

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